Thread on being stupid:

The issue is not that Muslims do not resist. The issue are the people who decide which 'actions' qualify as resistance and which don't. These people, mostly occupying central space in the anti BJP discourse in India,

1/n
have been there doing nothing but patronizing, schooling, appropriating and even disqualifying the anxieties, anger, struggle and resistance of Muslims since long. They appear to be woke and concerned at the outset but when you examine them closely,

2/n
you'd find all the elements of ignorant Indian elites who say 'don't spread negativity, speak positive things also'. A Muslim woman languishing in jail on fictitious charges is a symbol of bravery but a Muslim youth fighting back to

3/n
save lives of his people amidst a pogrom is pure stupidity. That means, they will speak of you (they rarely speak for you, and that too, when they are out of options) only when you can be presented as someone who couldn't do anything except becoming a victim of the state.

4/n
If you did something nonetheless, you're stupid. You're stupid if you are not a victim, if you refuse to be one. Simply put, Muslims will fail to receive any solidarity, recognition, support or love if their being cannot evoke emotions of pity or helplessness.

5/n
That is, a Muslim should die or get imprisoned or get released and say that he has full faith in the current structure and only that might bring the mic closer to your wife or son, daughter or husband. Anything else, anything that doesn't fall in the

6/n
criteria designed by them, is bound to be stupid. In doing so, they are not just de-legitimizing some of the most powerful acts of resistance from the community and criminalizing the ones who led them, they are also defining the way Muslims should lead their struggle.

7/n
This is nothing but social terror. Be stupid!

8/8

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More from @SharjeelUsmani

14 Mar
Thread on #SorryAsif:
Have been seeing a lot, quite a lot of Hindu people writing and saying #SorryAsif for what one "gumrah" OBC youth did. I do not subscribe to watching this whole incident as an isolated incident or the attacker singularly as one misled youth.

1/n
Those apologizing to Asif (on Twitter & Facebook) are just covering up the mass radicalization of Hindu youths in India. There are too many misled youths out there in the Hindu community. Such incidents are too frequent to be seen in isolation and

2/n
too arbitrary to be categorized as planned violence. These incidents are the result of the mass radicalization. It is injustice to countless Muslims who suffer and survive such brutalities daily if this incident is reduced to one Yadav. Furthermore, even this facade of

3/n
Read 8 tweets
28 Jan
Indian left/liberal activists ke liye ham products hain. Agar Zinda bache hue hain to inke liye dari bichayeñ aur inke inqalab ke naghme sune aur agar mar jayeiñ to inki kitaaboñ aur chutkuloñ ka mauzu ban jayeiñ..bas itni hi haisiyat hai inki nazar meiñ hamāri.
Inse puchiye kabhi Hindu radicalisation par apne logoñ par taqreer kyuñ nahi karte. Hamko aakar bata rahe ho ki Modi bahut bura hai..jaise hameiñ pata hi na ho. Inki kitaboñ mein lynch karne wale par tabsara nahiñ milega, lynch hone wale par milega.
Kabhi apne logoñ mein jakar research nahiñ karenge ki OBC Hindu, Upper Caste Hindu aaj itni badi tādād meiñ Modi ko kyuñ vote kar raha hai. Inki research hamesha ye hi batayegi ki Musalmanoñ ko kyuñ @asadowaisi aur @BadruddinAjmal ko vote nahiñ karna hai.
Read 14 tweets
24 Jan
Thread for young Muslims:

It's all okay & good to use social media, be in activism, raise voices but it is more important to have your presence felt. Conquer the spaces where our presence is negligible. It can be university spaces, opinion pages of leading news websites, 1/n
stages of the protests you participate in, and everywhere else. Be selfish, get recognised. Seeing a Muslim voice in place of none..It's not just your personal achievement, it's our. But also work for it. Work absolutely hard for it. Nobody's giving space here, you take it..2/n
Representation matters. While getting equal representation in policy making bodies will need a long battle, representation in these other spaces, especially popular media, is equally important. Learn to write. Before that, read and reread. 3/n
Read 6 tweets
15 Dec 20
Thread on RAF, Police, Muslims:

1) Last year when RAF personnels were attacking AMU students, one could hear them shouting 'Maaro behenchodo ko' and other communal slurs. Same happened in Jamia. While we are well aware that almost every law enforcement agencies are communal
2) we must work upon bringing them to justice. The opposition leaders must take up the issue and try to remedy this situation in the states ruled by them. Just because AMU is not in Bengal or Rajasthan does not mean the Bengal or Rajasthan police is less communal.
3) Unless this situation is remedied, we will find ourselves in dangerously situations. Those of us who led anti-CAA agitations & are part of opposition parties now should try to make it possible. It is least they can do.
Read 6 tweets
13 Dec 20
Thread on CPI(M)'s findings; both side-ism:

1) The Indian Left, self claimed seculars, et al will have to remain grossly Islamophobic, even if they decide not to be. One may argue their Islamophobia is premised upon their collective hatred of Islam, which might be true or not
2) but more because they'd lose all their legitimacy in the majority of majority community the day they start speaking the truth. The good ones in majority community are only good enough to condemn their wrong doing when they've a parallel example from Muslims to condemn
3) A fine example is CPI(M)'s condemnation of both RSS and Jamat e Islami Hind, PFI & SDPI. Once you start pointing out errors in the majority community without ifs & buts, you'd lose your legitimacy. You become evil.
Read 8 tweets
12 Dec 20
Thread on Hindu extremism, Muslim fundamentalism, same coin, etc:

1) Bringing Muslim fundamentalism into the theorem is a deliberate attempt to invisiblise the lack of political/social capital among Muslims vis a vis Hindus,
2) and more importantly, to hide the failure of the secular parties in fighting Hindu extremism. This "Hindu extremism, Muslim Fundamentalism' analogy is a multilayered attack against Muslims. First, Muslims become victim of crimes committed by Hindu extremists with state support
3) Second, Muslims are made a party in their own killings thus leaving no ground to understand the situation in attacker-defender frame. Third, it invisiblises the anti-Muslim approach of the state via police, judiciary, even in fucking compensation.
Read 4 tweets

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